POUND LIVE: Brexit divorce bill breakthrough sees Sterling soar against euro and dollar
THE pound's exchange rate has risen on the news Britain appears to have reached an agreement with the EU on the Brexit divorce bill.
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Pound sterling is up 0.26 percent against the dollar to 1.3398 on Wednesday morning, and 0.16% to 1.1298 against the Euro.
After British and EU leaders broke the deadlock over the Brexit divorce payment sterling returned to levels last seen in early September with further hopes remain that trade talks will soon be on the table.
Over the year-to-date, the pound is up 8.5 per cent and the latest leg of its rebound cuts its decline since the Brexit vote to just under 10 per cent.
As reported by the Telegraph, the UK-EU agreement-in-principle has now been reached leaving the EU to relax on their position and potentially open talks on a future free trade pact.
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A British government official said they “do not recognise” this account of the talks going on ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Theresa May to Brussels this coming Monday.
But the offer, estimated about being around £44.3 billion, represents the bulk of outstanding EU demands that include London paying a share of post-Brexit EU spending on commitments made before Britain leaves in March 2019 as well as funding of EU staff pensions for decades to come.
Prime Minister May and Chancellor Hammond have appeared to be on a surer footing of late and last week EU diplomats briefed on progress said the British offer was promising and that, on the financial settlement, the two sides were, as one said, “close to a deal”
However, possibly in attempt to present the good news themselves (perhaps even as a united front) EU officials close to the negotiations stressed that work was still continuing ahead of May’s talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and his chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.
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Michel Barnier, the European chief Brexit negotiator has said that he hopes to report to the EU in coming days about an agreement with Britain on the financial terms of its withdrawal from the bloc.
Speaking at the Berlin Security Conference, Mr Barnier gave no specific details,on the Brexit “divorce bill”, but said negotiations were continuing.
“We are working really, really hard on these subjects,” Barnier said, adding: “I hope that I can report that ... we have been able to negotiate a deal.”
Mr Barnier is due to meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Dec. 4.
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